Hikaru Dragonia

Though born in Outer Gyr Abania, Hikaru has traits of both Ala Mhigan and Far Eastern-type Hyurs. She gets her hair color and hair volume from her father, but in terms of eye color, face shape, body type and proportions, she unmistakably takes after her mother. Her body is toned enough to convey a visible strength and hardiness, as typical for Highlanders, but still shapely and alluring.

In her Heavensward postgame story "The Dragon Inside," Hikaru's right eye turns yellow after it is pierced by a shard of corrupted aether. For a time, she acquires a form of aethersight, though it is far weaker compared to Y'shtola's. At the story's conclusion, it returns to normal because of the corrupted aether being cleansed.

Despite being on the front lines (and the leading tank), Hikaru's body is lacking in battle scars. Having someone capable of healing her in combat is especially useful that way, and she eventually learns how to use healing magicks on herself. That said, in Patch 6.5, she does acquire three scars as a result of her fighting Zeromus: one on her right shoulder, one under her left breast and a third on her upper left thigh. The scars are from when the greater voidsent pierced her and pinned her down, leaving behind a trace amount of their dark aether, and resist being cleansed through even the most aggressive healing spells. Though the voidsent's aether left behind is not enough to be toxic and will eventually be broken down over time, it causes Hikaru's scars to glow a faint purple when touched.

When bathing with the other women of the party in Kugane, Yoshi notes that Hikaru actually has the largest cup size among them.

On names, gender attachment and cultural norms

"Hikaru" ("to shine/sparkle") is a gender-neutral (but ofen male-coded) given name. In Endwalker postgame, Rei explains her reasoning behind choosing such a name: she did not know the gender of her then-unborn child, but was struggling to come up with suitable names. To spare herself the work of having to come up with separate male and female names, Rei shortlisted those that would be suitable for either. Her selection included those from both her cultural background (Far Eastern) and that of her husband (Ala Mhigan), but both she and Berold liked Hikaru.

It's often said that one grows into their name over time, and such applied to Hikaru, and in ways unexpected. While Rei may have had somewhat of a galaxy-brained moment in giving an appropriate name to someone who would eventually become the Warrior of Light, what she probably didn't predict how giving her child a neutral name would factor into Hikaru's eventual attitudes toward her gender as an adult.

While wandering Outer Gyr Abania alone, Hikaru discarded many of her feminine personality traits and adopted a less-gendered manner of dressing and presenting herself. Where she was painfully shy and anxious as a child, Hikaru's sudden change of circumstances forced her to harden quickly, as Gyr Abania is no place for the soft-hearted. To be a young woman traveling alone was especially risky, thus it was even more of an incentive to make herself less appealing to those who might do her harm because she was a woman. Even her voice deepened to a degree, taking on a more aggressive and stern tone. The one aspect of her femininity that Hikaru could not bring herself to leave behind was her long hair; she attempted a shorter hairstyle, but was so used to the weight of her hair on her back as a counterbalance that it proved to be immensely disorienting, and thus she chose to never cut it short again.

Though becoming the Warrior of Light afforded her a considerably more comfortable lifestyle and therefore less cause to be constantly vigilant for her safety, it did not mean Hikaru would revert to acting more feminine. If anything, it made her realize how little attachment she had to being perceived as a woman. At the same time, she did not view herself as being particularly manly, either; although she did prefer unisex or male clothes, it was more for utility reasons rather than gender expression.

Hikaru also lost much of her attachment to her Ala Mhigan background. Her experience with the Resistance through her mother turned her off to any further association with the movement, and as a byproduct, she distanced herself from Ala Mhigan and Highlander culture in general, focusing more on her own survival. In Stormblood, Lyse and other members of the Resistance are mildly dismayed at Hikaru's detached attitude, hearing that she is only assisting them because of her obligations as the Warrior of Light.

Part of this disconnect can be seen with Hikaru's aversion to sex and exposing her body; where wearing revealing clothing and being sexually assertive is usually seen as a show of power among Highlanders in the Extended continuity, Hikaru would sooner put on the heaviest, bulkiest armor she could find. Even after overcoming her phobia in "Twice Attempted," Hikaru is still less inclined to wear clothes that show off her body, only doing so when alone with Numair. The thought of wearing a dress is completely alien to her and out of the question, however; even when as a healer, the furthest Hikaru is willing to go is a skirt with leggings. Even when Rei attempted to get Hikaru to try on traditional Ala Mhigan clothes, Hikaru instead reached for the male outfit, refusing to put on a bright red folk dress. In "Thirty One Stars," Hikaru wears a close-fitting black pantsuit, perhaps the most blatantly-feminine outfit she owns.

In the news media-- at least, the outlets that choose to respect her privacy-- Hikaru is rarely referred to by third-person pronouns, and much of her activities are attributed to the Scions or her party as a whole. She has never been interviewed, having appointed Alphinaud and Yoshi to handle such tasks in her place. There are few press pictures of Hikaru in circulation; those that do exist very rarely show her face, or depict her from behind or at a distance, and she is always seen in full armor. Combined with her gender-neutral name, it is not entirely implausible that a less-informed member of the public might presume the Warrior of Light is actually a man, a mistake that Hikaru is inclined to forgive since it is unlikely to be made with malicious intent.

In Endwalker Patch 6.55, Wuk Lamat admits that when Erenville described Hikaru to her, she initially thought Hikaru was a man (as Erenville seldom used she/her to refer to Hikaru, either directly using her name or "Warrior of Light"). In Dawntrail, during the detour to the Nazou Estate, Numair's mother Numina also presumed that Hikaru was a man based on her name, struggling to fathom the possibility that the Warrior of Light might actually be a woman. Numina additionally runs afoul by falsely claiming Hikaru is a "desperate Ala Mhigan harlot" who seduced her way into Clan Nazou's treasure caches, unaware of Hikaru's disconnection from her cultural origins.

Perceptions of heroism

A recurring question is addressed numerous times during the Extended Main Scenario Quest and other side stories: "What does it mean to be a hero?"

Hikaru acknowledges that, at the very minimum, her personality and mannerisms are especially unheroic. She is abrasive, snarky and foul-mouthed, and is up-front about how she considers her allies more along the lines of "extra bodies" rather than true companions. Even Agrias is put off at first by Hikaru's tendency to swear profusely during battle, commenting that not even the brigands she routed in her time were as vulgar.

While Hikaru attempts to mask these facets of herself in her public interactions, it is a mask she loathes wearing, as she feels that being the amiable "smile and nod" heroic figure isn't reflective of her true self at all. It is a mask that she takes off around her party members and some others (like Alisaie) and ultimately discards partway through Endwalker, finding the stress of maintaining it too much and deciding to behave more authentically, consequences be damned.

But as much as she has convinced herself that she isn't heroic, it does not mean she is a villain, either. Hikaru overlooks her own actions and how they were, in fact, those of a true hero in the greater picture. In combating the Primal threat and the Garlean Empire's activities, and dealing with a number of other looming crises, Hikaru did indeed labor for the betterment of Eorzea and the star as a whole. Even with her dispassion towards the liberation her homeland, she was at the forefront of the operation to free Ala Mhigo. And that is to say nothing of her greatest achievement as the Warrior of Light thus far: the prevention of the Final Days that would have otherwise seen the world consumed by Despair's song. While her persona does not immediately telegraph "hero," her actions definitely do.

In "Thirty One Stars," Hikaru is approached by a server at the Bismarck while she and Numair are finishing their meal. The server brings a small lava cake, saying that the restaurant owner is a fan and insisted that Hikaru have the cake as a birthday treat. When Numair takes notices of Hikaru's discomfort at the attention, he asks what is so unnerving about receiving praise and recognition. Hikaru's answer is telling of both her inability to perceive herself as being heroic, and also of her chronic self-deprecation:

"It was never about glory or fame. I was never in it to become a household name. I just wanted to ensure that everyone would live to see tomorrow. I am no hero. I'm just some woman with a fancy-ass sword. That's all there is to it."

Hikaru says all of that, completely ignoring the loyalty she inspired, especially among her closest allies, and even moreso, the man about to confess his love to her. If her tendency to downplay and discredit herself weren't immediately made obvious before, her response to Numair's confession a couple hours later makes it impossible to ignore. Her first instinct is to dissuade Numair, labeling herself as "broken" and "likely to disappoint," and insisting that she is nothing like the inspiring heroic figure that others believe her to be.

It is not until the end of Patch 6.5, when Hikaru has a near-death experience after encountering Zeromus, in which she is finally able to internalize the feelings of loyalty and appreciation shown to her over the years. In her subconscious "Garden of Memory," Hikaru is made to listen to numerous testimonies about the impact she's had as both the Warrior of Light and as a person, and for the first time she cannot bring herself to deny or refute such sentiments. Not only was she able to accept that she was a hero on the grander scale, but also that she was a hero to the people closest to her.